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Big cats

The big cats of India as species, and what protects each: their status, range and census, the programmes built around them, translocations, and the international alliances for their conservation. Prelims has asked whether the Asiatic lion is found naturally only in India.

Showing 1 of 9 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 July 2026.Show all

Tiger

The tiger

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Prelims

  • The tiger Panthera tigris is India's national animal and the apex predator of its forests.
  • It is Endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  • It is a Schedule I species under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • In India it lives in tropical moist and dry deciduous forest, mangrove and terai grassland, in tiger reserves spread across the country.
  • Poaching is its main threat, alongside the loss of undisturbed core habitat and conflict with the people who live in and around the reserves.
  • Project Tiger, launched in 1973, is the conservation programme, run by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the same Act.

What changed

  1. 12 Aug 2026

    The Hindu, 12 Aug 2026: Raise tiger base camps to 125 within a month, panel tells Andhra Pradesh (opens in a new tab)

  2. 30 Jul 2026Updatealso in news

    • Nepal's new survey estimates 429 tigers, up from 355 in 2022 and about 121 in 2009. Nepal was the first of the 13 tiger range countries to meet the 2010 pledge to double numbers by 2022.

    The Hindu, 30 Jul 2026: Nepal's tiger numbers climb 20% to estimated 429 (opens in a new tab)

  3. 29 Jul 2026Update

    • The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) now puts 35 to 40 per cent of India's tigers outside notified reserves, and the Environment Ministry has launched a Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves pilot in 40 forest divisions across nine States.
    • The pilot rests on two pillars: faster conflict response through rapid response teams and rescue infrastructure, and long term coexistence through community participation and timely compensation.
    • Tiger reserves have risen from 47 to 58 since 2014 and now cover 84,488 sq km, about 2.6 per cent of India's land, against nine reserves when Project Tiger began in 1973.
    • The Centre is also exploring reintroduction in West Bengal, citing Sariska, where tigers went from none in 2008 to 56.

    Mains: tiger policy has moved from saving tigers inside reserves to managing them in landscapes shared with people.

    The Hindu, 29 Jul 2026: Co-existing with tigers outside reserves (opens in a new tab)

  4. 9 Jul 2026Update

    • At its 29th meeting the NTCA took up the sixth cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation of tiger reserves and released STRIDES 2026, a status assessment of all reserves.

    PIB, 9 Jul 2026: Deliberations focused on Strengthening Protection, Improving Management Practices and enhancing Conservation Outcomes across India's Tiger Landscapes (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere

  • Lion attacks on people · on Human wildlife conflict and wildlife crime

    Lions living among people sometimes attack them, and a species found nowhere else offers no easy answer to that.

  • Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve · on Protected areas, tiger reserves and eco sensitive zones

    India's largest tiger reserve lost three tigers in July, and one of them was poached.

  • Satkosia Tiger Reserve · on Protected areas, tiger reserves and eco sensitive zones

    Satkosia had lost its tigers years before the evictions now being examined, which is the uncomfortable part of the case.